How James Charles Tackles His Senior Year of High School and High-Profile Photo Shoots

In only a year, James Charles went from doing his first ever makeup look to becoming one of the hottest beauty boys on the internet, slaying fans with his rainbow space buns and iconic "straight brows." The 17-year-old CoverBoy took some time off of photo shoots slash homework to chat with Seventeen.com about dating, Kay Perry, and starting a career while still in high school.

You're legally blind! Does that make it hard to do makeup?

It really doesn't affect the process that much. My contacts are the same prescription as my regular glasses. After a long day of a shoot, however, my eyes do usually feel pretty dry so it can be a pain sometimes. Oh well, I guess beauty truly is pain!

So you always wear contacts when you put on makeup?

I always wear colored prescription contacts for my looks. I put them in before so I can see during the process. Although not wearing them would be a funny challenge.

A post shared by James Charles (@jamescharles) on Nov 5, 2016 at 3:02pm PDT

When you started posting on Instagram, you showed your beauty looks on models. When did you decide to start doing makeup on yourself?

I used to do hair before I did makeup. At one of my best friend's hair appointments, she was late for her makeup appointment so she asked me to do it. I was like "OK girl, I'll do it, but if it looks awful, do not tag me in that Instagram picture." And it ended up actually looking really, really great – I mean like looking at it now, it was awful, but she felt beautiful and confident, and that's what matters. So she ended up posting a picture and she loved it and everybody was like, "Oh my God, this looks so good," so I ordered a basic starter set online and I started practicing on clients. Then, when it came for Halloween, I did a skeleton look on myself and that was the first time I ever tried makeup on myself. I really, really liked it. I was like "oh my God I wanna keep doing that." So that is exactly what I did.

A post shared by James Charles (@jamescharles) on Sep 18, 2015 at 5:53pm PDT

Some people think that others wear makeup just to impress the person they're interested in. What would you say to those people?

No, no, no, no. I hate when people say that. Literally I don't give a sh*t. I don't care. I definitely do not think of makeup as like a validation type thing. For me it's a creative outlet and an art form. It's not like "oh my god I need to feel pretty." It's like "this is so cool, I just created art on my face." I've always been a very artsy person and I always preach self-confidence and knowing your worth. Although makeup definitely makes people feel pretty — including myself — that's not the purpose for it.

A post shared by James Charles (@jamescharles) on May 12, 2016 at 5:57pm PDT

You're the face of CoverGirl's So Lashy Mascara campaign for "Lash Equality" – what does that mean to you?

[The campaign] focuses on inclusivity which is so important. Especially being a beauty boy, it means a lot to me to be able to wear makeup and be confident and be comfortable in my own skin. It's not an easy thing for a lot of people, especially guys. It's just like the perfect project for me to start with.

A post shared by James Charles (@jamescharles) on Nov 1, 2016 at 9:03am PDT

Do you do your own makeup for your CoverGirl shoots?

I do. I'm the first person ever to do their own makeup for all the shoots, which is really cool. I know some people have done [some makeup] elements in the past, but I'm the first person to go from nothing to full-on glam for the shoots.

A post shared by COVERGIRL (@covergirl) on Oct 14, 2016 at 11:38am PDT

Wow – that's amazing! It must be crazy doing all that and trying to finish up your senior year at the same time. What's that like?

When the announcement was made I woke up the next morning with over 700 text messages. Literally everybody that I had ever spoken or even looked at texted me with just like the most nice, kind, supportive messages. I was so overwhelmed with positivity. The deans and teachers at my school have also been extremely supportive and obviously now I am missing a lot of school for different business stuff. It's not the easiest thing in the world. A few nights ago, I had a shoot all day long, then I went home and wrote a paper for my government class until three in the morning, then woke up and did a shoot the next morning.

I saw your tweet about a guy you liked who tried to use you to boost his social media following. That's awful! What happened?

I'm very bad at talking to boys. I'm not that great at it. A lot of the local guys that I've had crushes on in the past have Snapchatted me and they're like "send me selfies so like I can show my friends that I'm Snapchatting you." I'm like, really? That's so annoying. So it's definitely not the easiest thing in the world to talk to guys or really anybody, because you never know who's really your friend. I've definitely learned my lesson and I'm trying pretty hard to figure out who my real friends are. But like I said, I definitely do not have the best luck in the world with boys. But I'll learn eventually.

What has been the most hilarious/amazing thing that's happened so far at one of your CoverGirl shoots?

When we were shooting for the commercial, they had me do closeups and nobody told me I was gonna be shooting with Katy [Perry]. A few hours later, they called me back in to do some last-minute closeups and I walked on set and I saw dogs like running around. I was like, "What the heck is going on? Whose dogs are these? Like how did they even get into this studio?" And all of a sudden I hear like, "Oh my god, it's the CoverBoy." And I turn around – it was freaking Katy Perry — and they were her dogs obviously. I didn't know it was gonna happen, so I was obviously like shook out of my mind.

CoverGirl

Fun Facts About James Charles:

He's legally blind.

The first time he ever put makeup on his own face, James created the skeleton look above.

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